HT Mumbai becomes stronger No. 2; HT Delhi continues as No. 1

HT Media Group has claimed in a press statement that it has added nearly 2 lakh daily readers nationally, the highest by any English newspaper, compared with the same quarter in the year-ago period (2010 Q4)

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Delhi | March 6, 2012

Based on the latest round (2011 Q4) of the Indian Readership Survey, Hindustan Times has claimed in a press statement that it has added nearly 2 lakh daily readers nationally, the highest by any English newspaper, compared with the same quarter in the year-ago period (2010 Q4).

In Mumbai, HT consolidated its position as the No. 2 broadsheet English daily for the 6th time in a row, and is the only daily to have grown in 13 out of the last 14 IRS rounds, the statement said. HT grew by 27 per cent to a 7.81 lakh daily readership during the last year. In Q4 2011, HT readership grew by 29,000. With this, HT Mumbai now reaches more than 5 lakh exclusive readers who are not reached by TOI. (It may be mentioned here that the IRS readership data and ranking includes broadsheet and compact dailies, and puts Mumbai Mirror from The Times of India Group as the No. 2 daily in Mumbai.)

In Delhi, HT continues to strengthen further, remaining the most read newspaper for the eighth time in a row. HT also continues to be the most read newspaper of Delhi NCR with 22.25 lakh daily readers (Average Issue Readership). Hindustan Times also reaffirmed its position as the undisputed choice for the premium and affluent readers in the territory and now leads The Times of India by nearly 1.55 lakh premium SEC A readers.

Hindustan strengthens No. 2 position: Hindustan, the group’s Hindi daily, strengthened its No. 2 position among all newspapers in India with a huge 3.81 crore total readership, which represents an addition of nearly 30 lakh readers in the past year (vs IRS Q4 2010). The paper continues to be the dominant No. 1 in Bihar and Jharkhand and is the fastest-growing Hindi daily in Uttar Pradesh.

Its daily readership, reported in IRS as Average Issue Readership, has reached 1.2 crore.

The gains are a result of an aggressive expansion spree which has seen Hindustan add nine new editions in UP and Uttarakhand in the last four years.

Hindustan continues to dominate the markets of Bihar (83 per cent market share) and Jharkhand (68 per cent market share) with a Total Readership of 1.51 crore and 54.68 lakh readers, respectively. It continues to be the second largest Hindi daily in the markets of Delhi-NCR, with a 23.99 lakh readership base.

Mint consolidates No. 2 position: Mint, HT Media’s business newspaper, has further consolidated its No. 2 position with 2.58 lakh daily readers, while The Economic Times has registered a drop of 22,000 readers. It has done so by growing its readership in Mumbai, as also in Delhi-NCR, its stronghold. It also continues to have the best reader profile among all business dailies, both in terms of metro skew [95 per cent from top metros] as well as SEC A proportion (71 per cent SEC A).

Commenting on the results of all HT Media publications, Rajiv Verma, CEO of HT Media Ltd., said, “While Hindustan Times has for long been No. 1 in Delhi and No. 2 in Mumbai, and Hindustan and Mint have consolidated their positions in their respective markets, as a group we are disappointed that these IRS numbers don’t reflect the full picture of our growth, and the reality of our investments and our efforts in the various markets of UP and Mumbai, and Mint across the country. However, we will continue to invest in our various markets, to meet the needs of our readers and our advertisers, and will hope that the readership growth will be fully captured going forward.”